Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve-Chapter 9.46 (361)

It had been three days since Takuma discovered that Okahachi's missing client, Kyuusai, could be from Odama. He had forwarded the information and the sketch to the local shinobi, who were better equipped to find a person in their territory than him.

It was very possible that Kyuusai had lied to the hostess, and he was wasting his time chasing nothing. However, he had no other leads to explore. Usually, in this situation, he would take on another case, but Campbell had asked him to wait a little longer before he put the case on the back burner.

His orders to Odama shinobi were to conduct their search in secret in fear that Kyuusai would flee if he found that someone was looking for him. It made the search slower, but it was a trade-off he chose. However, he had advised them to ask around cabaret clubs, geisha houses, and men's only clubs based on Okahachi and Yuki's description of the man to give their search some focus.

If the search yielded no results, he would register the sketch on the Leaf's wanted register, move on to the next case, and wait until someone spotted Kyuusai.

Until they found him, there wasn't much he could do, so he turned his focus to training.

His year with the Narcotics Taskforce had plateaued his progress because he only trained to maintain his physique and prevent his existing skills from rusting. His work had hindered his training and learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu was a reaction to that time because he knew ANBU would be the same, if not busier.

So, he created a system to take advantage of the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

He could only make one clone, so there were two of him in total. Work and training were split equally between him and the clone. He worked six days a week. They went to work on alternative days for the first four days, and because the case was so important given Campbell Squad's situation, they both worked on the remaining two days. But when only one was at work, the other focused on training.

Sunday was a rest day—imposed on him by Maruboshi. However, with nothing to do at work at the moment, both of them were training.

Masaaki gazed at the clone standing beside a boulder at a distance. He wove hand seals and earth spikes shot out of the ground underneath and around the boulder, shattering into pieces that flew in all directions. The clone's fists moved in a blur as they punched the shards coming in his direction, decimating them on impact.

"That's new."

"Yeah. Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears," Takuma said, as he did some light stretches. "I've fallen behind on Earth Release compared to Water Release, so I'm focusing on it for now."

"What else are you learning?"

"Rock Pillar Spears—Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot—Flying Thrown Stones. All C-rank."

"Woah, that's a lot," said Masaaki before frowning in confusion. "But aren't these all practically the same jutsu?"

"They are and that's the point," Takuma replied. "I recently consulted with someone knowledgeable about ninjutsu, and they advised me to look into ninjutsu with similar functions."

Takuma had met with Tapir, ANBU's master instructor, about which ninjutsu he should learn, and the former operative had told him that learning similar jutsu would allow him to increase skill at lower effort and gain versatility.

"Take Earth Flow and Rock Pillar—"

C-rank Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears condensed soil, mud or stone from the ground into spikes that would protrude from the ground to skewer the target.

Earth Release: Rock Pillar Spears allowed the user to create rock pillars that protruded from any solid surface to skewer the target.

"—the difference between them is that Earth Flow can only be used on raw ground," Takuma stomped on the grass beneath his feet, "while Rock Pillar will create spikes on concrete or glass if I want to. The trade-off is that Earth Flow pulls existing material from the ground, whereas Rock Pillar uses chakra to create the material even if it's used on the ground. They use more or less the same chakra, which allows Earth Flow to allocate chakra to make the spikes extra strong."

The logic behind learning both of them was that if Takuma knew how to create spikes in one jutsu, it would be easier for him to learn how to make spikes with the other jutsu.

However, with only two jutsu, even with the learnings being carried over, the total effort was still higher than if he was only learning one—but if he added another similar jutsu, the dividends paid off.

"Now add Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot and Flying Thrown Spikes. Both of these jutsu create spikes in a similar manner to Earth Flow Spears by using existing material, so the benefit goes beyond just the shape, making them even easier to learn. I benefit in three jutsu by learning the first due to pre-existing knowledge."

Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot condensed soil, mud, or stone in the area to sprout out in the form of large spikes which attached the target from separate directions in an attempt to skewer the opponent, making it harder to evade

Earth Release: Flying Thrown Spikes allowed users to condense soil, mud or stone from the ground into spikes bigger than a forearm and propel them towards a target or direction.

"There's a downside to it though," said Takuma in case Masaaki wanted to go the same route. "I would be much more versatile if I learned four different types of Earth Release ninjutsu. I could've learned a stronger defensive ninjutsu than my current option, or a jutsu that allowed me to manipulate the environment like turning it into tricky quicksand—that route would've undoubtedly given me more options. It's a game of trade-offs but going this way has another benefit, albeit in a limited scope"

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By choosing similar jutsu, he was boosting his future proficiency gains drastically. If he learned two jutsu with no overlap, training one wouldn't help the other much. But in his case, training any one of the four benefitted the other three because of their shared mechanic. He was creating spikes four times as much as if he learned four separate jutsu, allowing him to gain mastery faster.

There were real world, practical implications as well. He would be much more comfortable choosing his option of which spike jutsu met the situational requirement much faster due to being more intimate with the four options.

"That... actually makes sense," Masaaki breathed out, feeling slightly overwhelmed with the information.

"Yeah, that's why I've also picked up jutsu similar to my Earth Release: Hiding in Rock Jutsu which allows me to sink into the ground," said Takuma. The jutsu allowed him to camouflage within the earth and move freely through earth surfaces undetected.

C-rank, Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage turned the ground into a fluid, allowing the user to close in on the enemy with high speed by swimming underground. The user was camouflaged similarly to Hiding in Rock Jutsu, making it a great assault jutsu for surprise attacks. It was faster than Hiding in Rock and gave more control, thus its higher rank.

In the same vein, C-rank, Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu momentarily turned the ground around the user into fine sand, allowing the user to dig through it like a mole. The jutsu also had limited seismic detection, similar to Takuma's Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu, allowing the user to sense what is happening on the surface even if they go deep underground.

D-rank, Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu was the same as Hiding in Rock Jutsu with added features and an additional fifty percent chakra cost. While lurking underground, the user grabbed the target by their legs and dragged them into the earth, leaving only their head above the surface while hardening the ground around them to immobilise them—after which they could be swiftly decapitated while prone.

"T-That's seven ninjutsu, Takuma! Six of them are C-rank; that's expensive even for a chunin," Masaaki exclaimed, completely taken aback.

"Can't deny that. It's an expensive experiment," Takuma gazed at his clone so he wouldn't have to look at Masaaki as he lied to his friend.

"Are you okay with points?"

"Yeah, I've saved up a lot. "

He wouldn't have taken Tapir's suggestion if he hadn't been in ANBU, but the open jutsu archives gave him the liberty to experiment as he wished. More importantly, without the Shadow Clone Jutsu adding to training time, the experiment would have been entirely out of the discussion.

"You wanted to talk about your augmentation?" asked Masaaki.

However, the ninjutsu experimentation was the clone's responsibility today. Takuma had a different matter he wished to explore. He enlisted Masaaki's advice as a beneficiary of sponsorship from the Akamachi Clan—known for its historical expertise with augmentation jutsu. Their hiden jutsu, Calorie Control, was one of the world's most advanced augmentation applications.

"My augmentation is a viable weapon right now, but I feel like it'll soon fall behind my other skills, so I was wondering how to beef it up," Takuma said, clenching his fist. "I'm confused about how to accomplish that. I have another variation in mind, but that's down the priority list right now."

His augmentation had gotten stronger as he grew, which hadn't and wouldn't stop. He had also invented the Second Form variation. But he was looking for more and a qualitative evolution seemed like a natural next step.

In addition to his Akimichi connection, Masaaki was also among the few who knew Takuma's chakra augmentation the best. They not only sparred regularly, but his bukijutsu also served as the inspiration for the self-made augmentation.

"In my opinion, you have two options before you," Masaaki replied after long consideration.

"Which are?"

"Compression or containment."

"... Those aren't the same thing?" asked Takuma tentatively.

Masaaki shook his head. "Compressions mean increasing the density of the chakra you output." He raised his knuckleduster-clad hand and the special chakra metal alloy shimmered in a white light from a bukijutsu. "You need to condense your chakra and pack more of it in your pathway network." He clenched his fist and the knuckledusters burst into a brighter light.

Takuma raised his arm to cover his squinting eyes from the harsh glare. "Isn't that just piling in more chakra per strike?" he asked.

"Definitely, but let's assume you double the amount of chakra you use with your augmentation as it is right now. Do you think you'll be able to use all of it effectively?"

Takuma didn't need to think to know that he could not. There was only a split-second of contact during each strike in which he had to push all of the gathered chakra to cause damage. He was already at his limit to how much chakra he could push out in that tiny timeframe.

"That's why you need compression," Masaaki said when Takuma shook his head. "And the improvements aren't just linear. Compressing twice as much chakra will result in more power than twice with higher densities giving even higher gains."

"How do I do it?"

"You just do it, you know. Just squeeze it into a smaller area." Masaaki said as though speaking obvious, which confused him and suddenly made him unsure about his friend's ability to teach him. "Just kidding. Don't worry, I'll go ask about books and research you can read about. I know you like all that god-awful boring stuff."

Takuma sighed in relief. That's why he chose Masaaki; his friend knew about his habits and preferences.

"What about containment?"

"Okay, this is much easier to explain. Look at that tree," Masaaki said, pointing at it a few paces away. "What happens if you swing a hammer at the trunk?"

"The bark shatters?"

"Correct. What happens when you try to slam a nail in with the same hammer?"

"...The nail goes straight in. Ah, I get it. You're talking about increasing pressure by reducing the area over which force is applied," Takuma cited the basic scientific formula.

"Sure, whatever. Just don't let it spread out. Keep it small." Masaaki made a small ring with his hands.

Takuma already did containment to a limited extent with his augmentation, but like several other things he did, his efforts weren't as effective as they could have been because they were half-assed at best. During his year at the academy, he blindly did whatever Maruboshi asked him to do. But after graduation, he was left to his own devices. He was still given advice, but the choices were ultimately his own. Even with Mikoto, while she had total control over his genjutsu curriculum at the start, including the five genjutsu she had given him—eventually, she, too, expected and let him choose his direction. It was the natural course of things. His direction of growth had increasingly become his choice, which had become even truer since he had become a chunin and chosen Shadow Clone Jutsu as his first B-rank jutsu.

Numerous times in the past years, he has been tempted to learn new things. Spending months alongside Iori in the war had tempted him to learn fūinjutsu. The only reason he had not was because he felt like he would be stretched thin enough to snap.

At the moment, he was learning kenjutsu, making major moves with genjutsu, and even taking enough ninjutsu to double his existing count. Even though it had grown increasingly difficult, he hadn't stopped learning non-combat related, non-chakra skills—especially with his residence with Maruboshi. Not to mention, he was working on a big case but also still adjusting to ANBU.

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He couldn't imagine what things would be like if he didn't have a shadow clone jutsu.

"Take a break."

Takuma snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Masaaki, who was gazing at him with a firm expression of concern.

"You don't look good. Stop and take a break; come to our place and just hang out doing nothing. I don't think whatever you're doing right now is good."

Suddenly, Takuma felt guilty for making his friends concerned. He wondered if others thought the same. Did Maruboshi have similar concerns but remain silent because he knew his actual occupation?

"I… I will try, thank you," said Takuma.

His arm felt heavy as he patted Masaaki's shoulder because he knew stopping wasn't an option.